If you’re looking for a natural retreat in Asia where you get to work with plant materials and dye fabrics, check out the Natural Dyes of Asia Retreat with Autumn Brown.
During my 6 day 5 night stay in July 2025, I learned so much about dyeing fabrics, from creating the dyes from fresh plant material harvested from the farm as well as store-bought, dried ones, preparing fabrics, to dyeing it and aftercare to ensure colour retention for as long as possible. In the process, we also created a dye atlas to take home for reference.
What made this trip unique was the programming, the community, Autumn’s fun and relaxed style of teaching, and the location – Sukasantai Farmstay – which was an entire experience in itself. Sukasantai Farmstay is an organic farm in West Java, Indonesia, and was the perfect backdrop for a natural dyes retreat because of the access to plant materials for dyeing, relaxed atmosphere, and all the comforts that the farm had to offer.
We also had guest artists like Dhenny Setia who taught us how to make our own scarves with foraged plant materials using a natural dyeing technique called eco printing, while Rekalagam shared how they create pigments using salvaged waste materials like bricks, and explained how to paint fabrics using local earth pigments. Autumn also introduced us to mud cloth painting.
Outside of class, there was a lot to do around the farm. Guests can visit the essential oil distillery, milk cows at the dairy farm, visit the chickens or explore the vegetable farm, embark on a bamboo forest trek, take a morning walk to the tea plantation, learn to make mozzarella cheese and pizza, do some fishing at their pond, or just rest and relax on a hammock or other cosy spaces on the property.
The stay includes meals and snacks, which I found very healthy. There was always food available, and snacks came in the form of corn, tapioca, glutinous rice balls, fresh fruit and juice. No two meals were the same and I was very well fed. and on the last night, we had shabu shabu and BBQ yakiniku dinner.
I had so much fun on this 6-day stay. Besides the learning experience and the wonderful experiences I had around the farm, I met a wonderful community of crafters who made this trip so much more worthwhile. They were nurturing, supportive and we had so many laughs together. This was truly an unforgettable trip. If you’re looking to learn hands-on skills, meet like-minded people, and experience farm life up close, do consider signing up to the Natural Dyes of Asia retreat!
I had a fantastic time and this retreat has sparked an even deeper interest in dyeing with plants. Not too long ago I also discovered that we can even dye fabrics with mushrooms and went down a rabbithole on YouTube with that one.
To find out more about Autumn’s future retreats, visit her website and check out Sukasantai Farmstay here.
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